Hot Springs

So, hey, I totally forgot that I never got to finish my series on my trip to Vietnam. I finally got the pictures that my sister took on a cd in the mail, so now I can share.

Our first excursion from the River Ray Resort was to a hot springs. Our tour guide drove us over, but didn't mention that the hot springs was a bathing suit-necessary activity. In the US, any hot springs my family and I had ever been to/heard of were more viewing-centered, with nature walks and such, but not actually getting into any water. Luckily, the gift shop sold some not-too-hideous swimwear for only the equivalent of $10-11 apiece.

Here are some pics of the place:

The first thing we did was have a mud bath. We got a private cabin with a big tub inside, which filled with the hot spring water while we put the mud on ourselves. An employee put a few bags of prepackaged mud and some scented oil in a bucket, and we just had to rub it on our skin and wait a little while for it to dry, while walking around outside. This was much better than the natural volcanic mudbath I had in Kenya, which left my bathing suit irrevocably sulphur-scented.

Here are my mom and I:

After the mud dried, we were supposed to wash it off thoroughly in the shower, which was extremely difficult, and then soak in the hot tub for a while. Our skin was kind of dyed darker in some places for a while, but I think the hot water got most of it out.

Then we got to go swimming in some of the pools nearby. They varied in temperature, from cool to pretty hot.

After swimming, we changed back into clothes in the restroom. I was reminded how modest Americans are when some woman (I think most of the other foreign tourists that day were German) came into the bathroom and got naked to change without bothering to go into a stall. There was even a window in the restroom door, but she obviously wasn't concerned. It's funny to get little peeks of how other people and other cultures operate.

Next was lunch at the resort's restaurant. It might have been the best meal I had in Vietnam. I don't even remember what it was, but it was very light and sweet.

Before we left, we walked around for a bit, checked email for cheap at the information center, and took some pictures.

Here's a fantastic thing:

Then we went home for swimming at our pool, supper, etc. It was a good day, and I got a new bathing suit out of it.

Mindblowing Update

Mindblowing for me, anyway. Relevant to some, irrelevant to others.

Anyway.

I applied to a new recruiting agency for my next year in Korea, because this other one is just as reputable, but also has opportunities in more countries than South Korea, unlike my current agency. The first year is spent in Korea, Taiwan, China, or Thailand (a gig much shittier than it sounds), and after that teachers can apply to jobs around the world. Pretty cool.

I was originally going to return to Korea in October, since that would give me time to get in a trip to the Caribbean, finish a bunch of obligatory logistical stuff related to returning and leaving again, and do a cross-country road trip for a few weeks to visit long-lost friends and family, plus have some time to relax in Maine. However, when I asked about all the positions I see online advertising for September starts, I was told that if I want to teach in a public school (which I probably will end up deciding on), that if I plan on going in October, all the best positions will be taken, and it'll be hard to find any public school position period. So I said okay, I'll change my available date to late August (because public schools have orientation and training for a week or two before the semester starts). I did stipulate that if there were any positions at private language schools with comparable pay (they usually pay more, actually) and vacation time, that I'd prefer that, but I doubt I'll get that. Hagwons with 3-4 weeks of vacation are around, but 2 weeks is the standard vacation time. I'm hoping they're not going to bitch about me thinking only about vacation.

So my plan to do the road trip is pretty improbable now, especially since a certain SET OF NEWLYWEDS chose to take their honeymoon straight across the best time for me to visit them in LA. I might be able to fly out there for a bit, but everyone in the middle of the country will have to wait another couple years to see me. This is the problem with all this advance major planning I've been doing. It keeps getting knocked around and replanned and rescheduled. Watch me end up not starting a new contract until like January or something.

DMZ Tour

Continuing on, a couple Sundays ago was the day of our tour of the Demilitarized Zone, or as I like to call it, the Neutral Zone. We went with two buses with Adventure Korea, along with English-speaking people from the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and even South Africa, I think. There was a guy who had a shirt from South Africa that was very funny, though I don't think he was from there. The shirt said "I are wearing a jean pant" and he said you have to read it with a South African accent, and he demonstrated. There was also a Malaysian couple on our bus.

Our first stop was Imjingak, the farthest point north civilians can go without permission. There was a Freedom Bridge there.



Notice that the shape of the fountain below is the shape of the Korean peninsula. It looks like a rabbit, but you can't say that to Koreans, because they find it deeply insulting. It's what Japan, the enemy, says about their country.

Here is the music that was playing at the bridge. It was very eerie. The bridge in the background of the shot is not actually in North Korea. We thought that at first, but we weren't even that close to the border at this point; it's just as far as we were allowed to go without being processed.

This is the fence near the end of the bridge, with ribbons and such with wellwishes and hopeful messages:

This is the truck of soldiers behind that fence:

This is me, sticking it to The Man:

On the path to the bridge, there is a long wall of ribbons that you can buy and write on for like a thousand won or something cheap:

A memorial by the bridge:

This is the Compass of Hope. It tells how far major cities are in different directions:

There was a little train that I guess gave some sort of tour around the area, but we weren't at this stop long enough to do something like that.

This is a memorial specifically for American soldiers who fought in the Korean War:

After Imjingak, we got back on the bus and had to give up passports or alien registration cards to be checked so we could be admitted past the line toward the Demilitarized Zone border. Then we went to a little Unification Village called Tongilchon for lunch. Here is what the Adventure Korea had to say about it:

"You can notice the life of the people who live near the border.The thieves cannot sneak into the village. Therefore each house doesnt have any gates and addresses.The village is famous for rice, soybean, Jinseng especially the rice and Jinseng are popular among the people."

This is the building (next to the buses) where we had lunch. Lunch was a traditional Korean meal, with most or all of the foods being grown right in the village. It was terrible: tasteless vegetables and beans, oversalted soup, and some colorless mush, plus the obligatory white rice and kimchi. Actually, the mush was the best part, but it was only okay at best. We hung around there for what seemed like forever, because they wanted to give everyone time to have a leisurely lunch and look around at the little store with crappy souvenirs and the few goats and chickens.

After lunch, we went to the Third Tunnel, a tunnel that was constructed by North Koreans across the border, and was the third of at least four found by South Korean military dudes. Apparently North Korea adamantly denies having dug the tunnels and asserts that it was South Korea that did it (they're like bickering four year old siblings), but the physical evidence shows that that's a big fat lie.

Before entering the tunnel, we were shown a "video documentary" (read "propaganda film") about the DMZ. It was mostly about how creating the zone and some other diplomatic endeavors has helped bring North and South Korean separated families together and foster a sense of peace between the governments. It was especially hilarious considering the bitching that has occurred between the two sides over the past few months and the ridiculous threats Kim Jong Il has issued to bomb the shit out of South Korea. Not to mention that we were in the midst of buzz regarding North Korea's expected (and executed) missile launch, carrying what they said was just a satellite for their tv and radio broadcasts.

Then we went into a little museum where I took a picture of a model:

The tunnel was the only cool part about the tour, really. We had to walk down a steep underground pathway, wearing hard hats, to get to the actual tunnel. Then we walked through the tunnel in single file, maybe like a quarter mile, until we were stopped by a pile of razor wire in front of a wall. The wall had a window in it that looked into some sort of chamber, but it seems like that was constructed just for show, since the tunnels were built for speedy travel of thousands of soldiers at a time to infiltrate the South. The tunnels were fairly low in most places, and I saw a lot of people scrape their heads or smack them on the ceiling. They were all glad of the hard hats. Cameras were not allowed inside the tunnel, so I don't have any pictures. There are some pictures of some of us after we made the steep, tiring climb back up the path, but none were taken with my camera. If I get a picture from someone else, I'll post it.

After the tunnel we just hung around for way too long. By this point, I'm extremely bored and just want to go home. We stayed at the tunnel for so much longer than we should have. There wasn't even anything to look at.

Next we went to Dora Observatory where we were not allowed to take pictures within twenty feet or so of the ledge of the viewing landing. Here's the stupid photo line:

So this is the best shot I have of North Korea:

You can see there are viewfinders there, but I didn't bother looking. I was fed up and bored. I don't understand why taking a picture of something that is available for anyone with an ID to see is prohibited, especially since the picture couldn't be taken any closer than a few steps beyond the photo line. Shit like this is why I hate authority.

Our final stop was Dorasan Train Station. This is a working train station that is the last stop in South Korea, but it's motto is that it's not the last stop in South Korea, it's the first stop to North Korea. The hope is that once the two sides reunify, the trains will be ready to go immediately to reunite people and encourage people to visit across the border.

For now, it's just a tourist trap, with the only train running twice a day to and from Seoul for tourists wanting to visit the station. This is a sign out on the track, which you pay 500 won for a ticket to get onto:

Nearby is a big picture of George W. Bush doing something that looks like signing a pile of pipes or poles or something. But he's got the marker backwards. It's really bizarre, and there must be more to it than Bush being retarded enough to try to sign something with the wrong end of a marker. Anyway, one of the tour guides was really funny and he said if you put your hand up to the picture, you can look like you're shaking Bush's hand:

Here he is doing a jump so people could take pictures of him in midair over the train track on the billboard. He was doing this for like ten minutes:

Then I had a good idea:

If only I had some rope, it would have been a pretty funny classic shot with a twist. But that's okay.

In conclusion, except for the tunnel and the above photo, this was not a worthwhile adventure. Adventure Korea, and probably other tour groups, give a two-day tour which involves more stops, planting rice, digging up pretend land mines, staying in a guesthouse with a campfire and a movie outside, etc. That seems like it might possibly be worth it, so anyone looking to do a tour like this, but don't want to be bored out of your mind, try the two-day one instead. Of course, you do risk being bored out of your mind for two days in a row...

Korean Commercials

I've been seeing some especially good commercials around here lately, so I looked some up on youtube so I could share them with you.

I don't know what this ad is for, even though it's subtitled on youtube (the subtitles are kind of funny, bonus). My favorite one is the first one because of the baby lying so nonchalantly on the pillow watching tv. That's one cute kid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygLL5XeaCEA

This commercial I can actually figure out. CYON is making some crazy cell phones right now. One is called Ice Cream 2. I see this ad every time I go to the movie theater; it hasn't made it to tv yet. It stars some chick named Kim Tae Hee, who must be a singer or actor or someone else popular enough to get a lot of commercial air time. The guys in the Ice Cream commercial are a reeeaaaally popular boy band called Big Bang. I like the one with the mohawk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5K-7Z69utOM

Here's another CYON phone called Lollipop:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj-ISR21LtI

By the way, Koreans really dress like that. In real life, the colors are more muted, but the style is basically the same. This is why I have trouble buying clothing here.

I see this one a lot lately for Seoul Milk:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sos5pm0wXg

And this Kia commercial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQrOJdGsEps

And for the boys:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obktGlsUprE

Hauzen "Ayuh Con":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QVqZTpagkU

This is an ad for a touch phone called Haptic Pop. It's funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViHlNvVkrPQ

Anyway, this is what I'm inundated with on a daily basis. I might throw some other ones up if I find any good ones later. Isn't youtube great?

Seoul Again

Well, I made another trip to Seoul. This time it was to go on a tour of the Demilitarized Zone. My friend Ashleigh suggested it, and Leon and three of Ashleigh's friends went, as well. We spent Saturday in Seoul and Sunday was the tour. The whole thing was pretty exhausting, and frankly, I regret going. But whatever.

We took the bus to Daegu, a city a bit inland, then took the high-speed rail, the KTX, to Seoul. Ashleigh and her friends were told a couple outrageous things about the train, like the cars have norae-bangs (karaoke rooms) in them, but it was nothing as exciting as that. The train did break 300 kph at times, though. It didn't seem all that fast, but doing it that way saved us about an hour and a half.

We stayed for cheap in a six-bed dorm room at the Golden Pond Guesthouse (nice name). Quarters were cramped, but we got a bed, a bathroom, use of the kitchen, living room, and computer with internet. Here's our tiny room, or as much of it as I could get in the frame:


Outside in the neighborhood was a small strip of shops, restaurants, bars, and theatres. Gandalf was stationed outside the CGV theatre:


There was also this guy wandering around:



After substandard Italian food for lunch, we all went shopping at Insadong, an area to buy traditional Korean stuff. I had a few final gifts to pick up, and I think none of the girls had been to Seoul yet, so that's a good place to hit on a first trip. Leon and I went to a tea house after I did my twenty minutes of shopping and the others were still looking around. The setup was pretty schnazzy:


You get your own teapot, heated with a tealight (now I know why they're called that), plus a thermos of extra water and a little vial with more tea for refills. Also some rice-cakey snacks that taste like air.

On the way back to the guesthouse to put on warmer (and for the girls, nicer) clothes for the evening, we saw these big piles of colorful shit:

It's possible they're supposed to be ice cream, but the execution seems a bit off.

We went to TGI Friday's for supper because no one wanted Korean food (we can get that anywhere) and it was sadly overpriced. Then the others went out to some bars in a couple foreigner-popular places while I retired to the guesthouse to rest my broken body (knees, neck, back) and my brain from all the physical and social activity. We had to get up at o'dark thirty to get to the meeting point for the tour at 9:30 the next morning and make sure everyone was up and showered and fed. Leon and one of the girls got home at like 2:30, and the rest got home at maybe 4:00, and everyone was planning to get up at 7:30 or so. Jeez. Ironically, they all probably got more sleep than I did, being able to pass out on the bed in their respective drunken stupors, while I, who can't sleep off my own turf, tossed and turned for eight hours. Booooo-urns.

I'll continue with details of the DMZ tour in my next post.